The Liverpool 3b main man rolls up his sleeves for another mouthwatering Freeze party
Jemmy is part of the new breed of DJs pushing house music in the right direction across all formats. He’s an old fashioned resident, building a reputation to play across the board building the night during his three high profile residencies in Liverpool, first at techno establishment Aztec and currently at Cream and Freeze. As well as that he’s entered the world of production in breath-taking style, releasing music on John Digweed and Nick Muir’s Bedrock imprint, and kept the vinyl trade alive with his shop 3b records. Jimmy Coultas caught up with him as he gets ready to welcome Bedrock to Liverpool as part of Freeze’s party in the city on Saturday 26th April…
Hi Jemmy. First off we understand you run 3BRecords shop in Liverpool, seeing as you are there first hand, how much of a renaissance are we seeing from vinyl sales and can you see it enduring for future years?
“Hello, first of all – I just want to say thank you for the support you guys gave my recent releases, that meant a lot! Yeah I run the shop with two friends of mine – Thomas and Adam, both just as strange and wonderful in there right.
3b brings me a lot of joy – one of the reasons being the increase in popularity of vinyl, the shop has a really cool/exciting feel about it again! We get some amazing eccentric characters in, who you grow to love. One customer was dressed head to toe in bright orange (inc hat & socks) yesterday, telling me about his encounter with a rowdy owl, that was brilliant! These are the people who make the shop what it is. They visit every week because they can’t wait to hear the new releases, and neither can we!
Vinyl went through a miserable period a few years back but like it always has – it bounced back, highlighting why it’s the most timeless and special of formats, leaving the more disposable ones behind. As you know though – it’s not all plain sailing we have to keep moving with the times to be relevant and sustainable. So it’s tough but can be very rewarding.”
How difficult is it keeping the record shop going in the current climate, and how have you managed to stay afloat during these times?
?We do various things, one of them – not limiting ourselves to one thing, we see our self as a one stop shop for all things music, so tickets for events and merchandise are also huge part of our business.
We also love throwing really fun in store parties for album launches. Over the past year or so we’ve had the likes of Four Tet, Carl Craig, John Digweed and Crazy P all come to play here, to celebrate their label or releases. They work brilliantly, we sell a shed load of their stock and everybody gets to see one of their heroes play in an intimate record shop, for free…even better than that – we throw in few free cans of beer for everyone.”
You’re also resident for Freeze in the city, with a date coming up at a Bedrock records party. Tell us some more about the clubnight and what your residency entails.
“Freeze is a group of mates who care deeply about music and putting on amazing shows for everyone but we also don’t take ourselves too seriously. We love going to gigs, getting into trouble and hopefully annoying a few locals along the way haha… but there certainly aren’t any ego’s in the group!
I think that reflects in the parties, people can relate to Freeze as something more than a clubbing brand, everyone at the events feel a part of it, more so than your average club night, and they are! Nothing is overly formal, but don’t get me wrong – mountains of detail go into every precise element to ensure every show is special. All of these things make for the perfect ingredients and that’s why the freeze crowd is one of the best crowds you could ever play to.
The next Freeze – Bedrock warehouse party with John Digweed, Ellen Alien and myself is shaping up to be an unbelievable night!”
{http://soundcloud.com/jemmy/jemmy-bedrock-promo-mix-freeze}
The art of being a resident is starting to come back – why do you think this is the case?
“I don’t think it ever went away, I just think more people are talking about it again and respecting the importance of them. For me, if a night is to establish an identity- the resident DJ has to, and always has, played a huge part in that. They’re the DJs you can rely on!
A good resident sets the tone of the night perfectly so the headline act can start exactly where they wanted to and feed off the energy in the room. They must also be able to adapt to the different types of artists they’re playing with, but not forgetting to build their own unique sound and the club night’s identity – so you need a great understanding and passion for your music and its history. There are so many factors to take into account, any clown can hit the sync button and play the top ten beatport hits, but it takes a lot more to be a good resident.”
We’ve also noticed you’ve got gigs at Cream Ibiza and Creamfields lined up. Can you detail more about your relationship with the iconic clubbing brand?
“Cream was the first place that opened my eyes to the dance music world, before that I was only really interested in football and being a bit of an idiot. It changed my life seeing people like Laurent garner play 6 hour sets in the Annexe. So it’s hard to explain how the experience of playing the opening set in the main room for the first time, felt. On top of that – I love the cream family, they have always really looked after me.”
Where else have you played in the last year?
“I’ve had some wonderful gigs the past year, and met some ace people along the way – all of the freeze parties have been amazing, the Cream shows have been huge! And I have had the chance to play with some of my favourite artists, including – Dixon, Ame, Guy Gerber, Michael Mayer, Gui Boratto, Richie Hawtin etc etc. so it has probably been my favorite year to date, for gigs. And the next 12 months is looking just as good.”
A little bird tells us you’ve been charged with chaperoning a few international DJs to the football in Liveprool recently. Any plans for them to return the favour for you in their homelands?
“Haha, a couple of them yes! Guy Gerber came with us to the Southampton game, the only game we have actually lost at Anfield so far this season! We had a great time though, he went into great detail about all of the weird and magical things that went on at Burning Man. I met Guy for the first time in 2005 when we won the Champions League, we gave him a Liverpool scarf then and he still has it to this day, so it meant a lot to him coming to Anfield for the first time.
We also took Hernan Cattaneo to the Crystal Palace game, Hernan is a huge football fan, he has a season ticket at Barcelona but hadn’t slept for 2 days, and so if it wasn’t for our spellbinding performance that day, he would have definitely nodded off. I’d love to visit the Nou Camp one day, so I’ll be getting in touch with Hernan next time I’m in town.
Also – as I’m talking to you, were coming up to the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and I know there won’t be a dry eye in our house, I have so much respect and admiration for all of the families and what they have done. So it will be an emotional week ahead.”
On to your own productions now. You’ve released previously on Bedrock, and have more music coming up with them shortly. How did the hook up with the label come about?
“I have known John for a long time, through 3b and playing with him at various places. He’s a top person, down to earth but has a real aura about him and drive. He has shaped so much of the scene here over the past 20 odd years.
John has always given me his time and priceless advice. When I was just starting out and sending him my very first tracks, he told me they have a good sound and nice ideas but are missing something. He explained the importance in the modern age of making your music stand out from the crowd, otherwise it will get lost amongst everything else and consequently forgotten.
Ever since then I have really focused on originality and telling a new story with each track. I want everything I do to make a strong impression, even if it’s a stripped back subtle track, it has to have that something that draws you in and maybe surprises you a little. Michael Mayer has also been great to me in this sense. Michael has so much wisdom and hears things in tracks that most other people would never notice, so the advice I’ve received from him, has really helped me as an artist.
So anyway the day I got signed to Bedrock – Scott called me just before I was about to play Ibiza rocks, and told me that john wanted quarry bank for the Bedrock 14 album. We had a good night that night haha! Then a few months later – John was in town playing the Freeze bedrock party, so we asked him to do an Instore DJ set at 3b, he did, and then closed his set with ‘Waterloo Blues’ (which I had just sent to him the night before), saying he wanted to sign it! That was an amazing moment!”
Where else outside of dance music do you find your musical inspiration from?
“A lot of the inspiration for my music can come from bands like Radiohead, Pink Floyd, amorphous androgynous/fsol etc.. I really love that psychedelic sound and the little moments of beauty.
But my friends will tell you I have a bit of an obsession with John Lennon, I’m not going into the details because I’d probably end up sounding like a bit of weirdo haha…but there is something about his songs that I really connect with.”
We also understand you’re getting married this year, congratulations! Is the lucky woman a raver?
“Yes I am, her name is Angela, she is an actor and wonderful in every way but she definitely isn’t a raver. Which is actually really nice because it’s sometimes important to be able to get away from music, otherwise I wouldn’t ever stop thinking about it. We get married in September and then fly off to korcula old town in Croatia for our honeymoon. I cannot wait!
What’s your current top ten records from the record shop counter?
Todd Terje – It’s Album Time – perfect album for me, never stands still and keeps you locked in
Joy Wellboy – Before The Sunrise – Dixon Edit – I think this will be one of the records of the summer, strings galore!
Vid – Camelie – I have been playing this a lot in my warm up sets, trippy and beautiful
Unknown – Itaque Putant – a new white label that has just landed in store and its absolutely amazing, so many twists and turns in this
Dauwd – Lydia – this track has a bit of magic about it, the other 2 tracks on the EP are also brilliant
Stareaway – No Life In This Ghost Town – Chateau Flight Remix – lovely nostalgic feel to this one
Matt Karmil – Wheel – I love everything on this label and this is no exception, been playing this a lot
Culture Fires – Combination – really nice summer vibe to this, I think it’s all in the bassline
New Jackson – Made It Mine – wonderful piece of house music
David August – Agatha – psychedelic, beautiful and uplifting
And finally, you’ve been given the chance to get three DJs playing in your shop next year. Who would you pick and why?
“First of all – Michael Mayer, because I’m a Kompakt fan and he’s also one of my favourite DJs. As well as being a top person!
Next up – Thom Yorke, I know he’s not necessarily known for his dJing, but he does do it sometimes, and it would be a great opportunity to get him in the shop so I could annoy him, being the world’s biggest geg.
Finally – DJ Koze, I have never met him before but he comes across as a cool guy, plus I’m a huge fan of his music.
The list is endless though, and we have a lot more pencilled in this year so keep your eye out.”
Catch Jemmy at the Bedrock special on Saturday April 26th at Freeze @ The Garage in Liverpool with John Digweed and Ellen Allen
Ticket link : http://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Liverpool/The-Garage/Freeze-present-Bedrock-with-John-Digweed-and-Ellen-Allien/12083078/
